The Price We'll Pay
by Nephthys Snape
Summary: Neji has been kidnapped, and Hiashi must pay to have him returned. Ibiki and his men work to get the young man back, and Gaara is out for blood. AU with various pairings mentioned. Contains violence and mature content. Discretion is advised. Yaoi.


AN -- There's bondage, mention of branding, and Biastophilia. (Be forewarned that this is rape and if that offends you, or you just can't handle it, skip the sections of the story in _**BOLD ITALICS**_.)

Disclaimer – Characters and universe belong to Kishimoto Masashi.

The Price We'll Pay

"What do you mean you have no leads?!" Hyuuga Hiashi screamed. Usually a proud man, it was rare for him to raise his voice so. But, when his only nephew had not been seen for three days, and the police had no leads as to his whereabouts or even when, where, how, or why he disappeared, he felt he was in the right to get angry and loud. Or, he would have felt in the right, if he was actually thinking and realizing he was doing so.

"Hiashi, try to calm down," the soft, deep tones of his lawyer were no match for the Hyuuga's volume, but they cut through the room like a samurai's blade. Aburame Shibi was as well respected as his client, coming from an old and rich family as well, and his calm, cool demeanor as well as his commanding tones made him more than formidable in any litigation. He was pleased when Hiashi calmed, if only a little.

"We're doing all we can, Hiashi-san," the captain of the police task force responded. This was a high priority case, the only type of case Ibiki's unit ever saw to. Luckily, Captain Morino Ibiki knew Hiashi well and was use to dealing with distraught victims and loved ones. "It's personal for us, too," he reminded the older man.

Hyuuga Neji was one of Ibiki's best men. And while his team should have removed themselves, or even been removed by higher ups, it was known they were the best at what they did. There was no way any of them were going to let someone else handle Neji's disappearance and possibly botch the job.

"Until whoever has taken him, because there's no doubt in any of our minds that someone has him, gives us demands, we can only wait," Ibiki's second-in-command, Lieutenant Hatake Kakashi, spoke calmly. If everyone hadn't known better, he would have seemed indifferent about the entire situation, like he was with all their cases.

Hiashi sighed, running a shaking hand through his long dark hair. He knew Kakashi was right, that didn't change how he felt. Nothing but having Neji home would. He would even settle for just knowing he was alright. If he never got either...

"Sir! Sir!" One of Ibiki's men rush into the room. He ran over to the large, scarred man with a small package addressed to Hiashi. The package bore no return address, no delivery address, and no postage mark. All there was on the brown paper was Hyuuga Hiashi in large reddish brown lettering.

Kakashi grabbed the package from the anxious Rock Lee and looked it over with an expert eye. He ran a finger along the lettering before sniffing the words. With a small sigh, he closed his eyes and handed the package on over to Ibiki.

By shape and feel, it was obvious what was inside to both senior officers, and likely all the others on the team. The color of the writing and Kakashi's demeanor also spoke of just what was used to address the package as well. Ibiki took it with his own small sigh, giving it another unneeded glance over.

"What?" Hiashi demanded. "What is it?" He could tell something had gotten a reaction from Kakashi, who never reacted to anything as far as Hiashi was aware. It served to only make him more nervous, and he wrung his hands together anxiously. Not even the calm hand of Shibi on his shoulder quelled the rising tension in his gut. Something was wrong.

Ibiki didn't immediately answer, instead he slid on a latex glove then ran a knife under the tape that held the paper around the small video cassette. He looked the small black object over with a sharp eye before looking up at Hiashi as he handed the tape off to a gloved and waiting Nara Shikamaru, who would run forensics on it before they could do more with it. "We need to play this. I'd prefer if you let us watch it, deem if you need to see it..."

"No!" He answered sharply. If his nephew was on the that tape, or if news of him was, he'd be damned if anyone saw it before he did.

"It might be disturbing and I don't want you more upset than..." Ibiki tried to reason with the distraught man, and no matter how often he had to negotiate with frantic loved ones, it never got any easier. He wasn't looking forward to seeing what was on the tape, himself, but also knew he couldn't not watch it. Like always, when in similar situations, he thought of how he'd react if it were his brother or lover that was missing, kidnapped, and he was the one having to wait on pins and needles to see if they were alright and how he could get them home.

"_MORE_ upset! How could I possibly be _MORE_ upset!" Hiashi screamed before Shibi squeezed his shoulder and spoke.

"Show us the tape, Morino-san," the lawyer's voice was calm and soothing, more for Hiashi's benefit than anything. He hated seeing the other man so out of sorts, so in pain, so desperate when there was nothing he could do to make it better, make it never have happened.

"Very well." Ibiki sighed and they all waited until Lee secured a VCR and TV for them to watch the video. As soon as Shikamaru was finished with his analysis of the casing of the cassette, he returned it to Ibiki's gloved hand and the captain placed it into the VCR.

Everyone waited silently as the screen stayed black a moment or two then tall masked figured appeared on screen.

"_**Ah, Hyuuga-san, it is an honor to be speaking with you," the man spoke into the camera. He stood in a dark stone room that had all the appearances of a dungeon. His attire was simple but nondescript leather pants and a leather tunic. Even the mask he wore was made of leather. All that was visible was his eyes and hands.**_

_**"No doubt, you're worried about your precious nephew, and I'm certain saying no police at this point in time is both pointless and too late in coming. I imagine Neji-kun's friends and co-workers are all right there with you as you watch this. That's good. I want them to see me break him, and break you by doing so."**_

_**The man moved away from the cameraman and toward a bound figure behind him. "Isn't he beautiful like this?" His voice was a sadistic purr as he ran a hand down Neji's back.**_

_**Neji was placed on his knees, bent over with his chest resting on a small bench. His arms were bound elbow to hand behind his back with more straps going around his shoulders and chest. There was a bar between his knees, to keep his legs spread open, and his penis was pound with a small weight tied around the end. The Hyuuga prodigy's hair was tied up out of the way, making the collar around his neck, the blindfold over his eyes, and the bit in his mouth visible. And, as the camerae moved, the object shoved up his ass was also quite obvious, as was the blood dried on his butt and thighs.**_

_**"If you're wondering, though I doubt your mind has caught up, he's erect thanks to a little drug I used. It makes his body yearn for release without clouding the mind." The man's smirk was evident in his voice.**_

_**The camera continued to move, coming to stand before Neji's face. The young Hyuuga had been crying, whether from humiliation or pain was uncertain. Likely a bit of both. But the streaks of his tears were evident on his cheeks.**_

_**"Such a pretty thing. Just like a little china doll. Do you know what I do with such pretty things?" The man was standing behind Neji as he addressed the camera. "I break them." Reaching down, he brutally jerked the glass dildo from Neji's anus, causing him to begin to bleed again.**_

The small whimper of pain Neji made cut through the men watching the video, and Hiashi barely registered as Shibi wrapped his arms around him from behind.

_**With a look of pure lust, the man opened the front of his pants and slammed forcibly into Neji's passage. Twice as round as the dildo had been, it served only to tear the young man more, making him cry out and bite into the bit in his mouth, tears pouring down his cheeks. The man slammed into him over and over, harder and harder.**_

_**"Isn't he beautiful?" He asked yet again. The lust of what he was doing to Neji dripping from his voice. The thrill of taking someone against their will, breaking them drove him on harder and faster. "Listen to those sounds. Music to my ears." **_

At that point, Hiashi could take no more. He turned and buried himself into Shibi's arms, clinging to the other man tightly as he tried to shut out what he'd seen, what he was hearing. But, he knew, the images would haunt his nightmares the rest of his life, and no matter what the kidnapper wanted, Hiashi would give it. Anything to stop what his nephew was going through.

Shibi held Hiashi tight, laying his head atop the one burrowed into his neck. He knew they'd not like whatever was on the tape, but he had never expected this. Had he, he would never have allowed his lover to watch it. Neji was like a son to Hiashi, closer with him even than Hiashi's own daughters in ways. Shibi, too, looked to Neji as a sort of second son, and to see someone do this to the proud young man, it made his blood boil.

The members of Neji's team were in various degrees of shock and horror. Ibiki had gone deathly still, face set into hard, deadly lines, which foretold of a slow torturous death to whomever dared touch Neji in such a manner, let alone against the young Hyuuga's will. Kakashi was as stoic as ever, but the fact that Gai had appeared moved to stand behind him, and Kakashi was leaning back into him, said a lot on how much this was affecting him. Gai and Lee were both crying, and not their usual 'manly tears'. Shikamaru wasn't watching the actual activities on the tape, and had closed as much sound off from his mind as he could, as he watched for details that might help them locate where the tape was filmed.

_**When the man finally came hard into Neji's bleeding ass, he pulled himself free and moved toward the camera, not bothering to cover his come and blood covered cock. "You have until 7 PM to deliver 3 million dollars to the address written on the inside of the packaging this tape arrived in. If the money is not there in unmarked, non-sequential bills, then I will just have to do this again. And I'll not be as gentle the second time. It's harder for me to get off when we're no longer strangers." His hand stroked down Neji's back, which flinched trying to get away from the touch. "No one is to be with the money, no tracking devices, and no dye. Just drop the money off and leave. If all goes well, your precious, broken china doll will be home in the morning."**_

Everyone shared a look, then looked to where Hiashi was sobbing into his lover's chest. They didn't want to just give over the money and let the bastard go, but there was little else they could do when Neji was being held captive and brutally raped.

The small shift of the only other team member in the room besides Ibiki, Kakashi, Gai, Lee, and Shikamaru, made the captain glance to the dark corner in the back of the room. Cold green eyes glared toward the television over the backs of laced knuckles. The eyes shown with a deadly intent that made the older man shiver where he stood.

"We give them the money," Shibi spoke up, holding his lover all the tighter. "I don't care what sort of plan you can come up with. They get the money, we get Neji."

"And if they don't give him back?" Kakashi asked quietly, trying to reclaim his calm indifferent demeanor.

Hiashi stiffened in his lover's embrace. Would they do that? Promise to let him go then not do it. He had said if all went well. That meant anything could make him change his mind.

"We deal with that if it happens. If there's a chance we get Neji back, we take it," Shibi was not backing down. He didn't' care if he had to pay for it out of his own pocket, which he knew he wouldn't have to, but he would make the offer to help Hiashi deal with, had in fact already done so once.

"Any leads on the 'dungeon' and where that may have been filmed?" Ibiki asked Shikamaru, ending the discussion of paying the ransom for the time being.

"I'll need to run it through a filter, analyze it more thoroughly." At Ibiki's nod, he grabbed up the tape and left to do what he could with it.

"The tape was delivered to the door. If Kiba and I could find a scent trail," Kakashi said, looking to Ibiki for the go ahead.

"Do it." The big man turned again to the quiet figure in the back corner of the room. His eyes met the deadly green gaze and he turned away. "Quickly," he added as Kakashi was going out the door.

"If they're found, I go in first," the cold, even monotone voice spoke up from the shadows of the back of the room.

"I don't really think..." Ibiki started.

"And if that were Iruka on the tape?" The younger man asked, voice a little more icy.

Ibiki sighed and nodded. He'd give the other that. If it was his lover on the tape, he'd have already become violent. That the green-eyed man hadn't himself spoke volumes for his control. Everyone knew the violence he was capable of, and that someone had harmed Neji ... Ibiki didn't see why he should care what Gaara would do to the perpetrator of the violence or the person behind the camera.

--

The trail had been hard to locate, and thankfully they were using several dogs or they may not have been able to follow it to the end. They'd had to follow several back streets and alleys, the dogs following the scent of the air more than that on the ground. As the money was being dropped, just in case they'd miscalculated on Neji being where they thought he was being held, Gaara led a small group of men into an old warehouse.

The moment the cold green eyes landed on the man who dared rape his lover, all control Gaara had previously displayed disappeared. It didn't' take long, not as long as most of them thought it should have, for the man to be in a bloody mass of broken bones and bruised flesh on the floor. And through it all, not a drop of blood seemed to land on the thin redhead.

His eyes scanned the room, landing on the camera man briefly but quickly diverted to the sight of Neji, who was still bound and gagged but no longer blindfolded. The pale gray eyes stared at him, full of pain and relief. Gaara left the cameraman to the others as he rushed to Neji's side.

With a gentleness most would not think he possessed, Gaara removed all bindings and tended to what he could of Neji's wounds. Bruises and a few lacerations were minor compared to the damage done to his anus, and the small brand on the right buttock was something he would address at a later time. Plastic surgery could see to that.

For the time being, he couldn't do much more than hold Neji as an ambulance was called.

--

Shibi sighed into the phone, closing his eyes as his shoulders slumped. "Thank you, Ibiki-san," he spoke softly. "I'll inform him at once." He placed the receiver of the phone in its cradle and turned to his client, his lover.

"What is it?" Hiashi was on pins and needles waiting on word of his nephew. Seeing Shibi's shoulders slump, he wasn't sure if the other man was relieved or grieved. But, when a small smile made it's way onto the other's lips, Hiashi launched himself into the lawyers arms and cried happy tears.

"He's fine. Shook up and sore. They're taking him to the hospital. We can go see him later tonight." Shibi held onto Hiashi tightly, stroking his hair gently as he nuzzled into it.

"I was so scared I'd never see him again, that the last thing of him I'd ever see..." Hiashi clung all the tighter to Shibi.

"I know," the dark-spectacled man answered, holding all the tighter. "I know."


End file.
